Whilst this is still to be finalised (subject to work shifts etc) we should have the following. I'm always uncertain about the novices as I never know if they'll actually show next week, let alone to a grading.

Stacy - yellow Dan - orangeDale - noviceLev - noviceKarol -novice

There might be another couple of novices but they train at Bedford

I then have Darryl. He's a junior. 13, but big for his age. Equal in size to some of my adult members (size five gi due to his height), but skinny. Do you think I could bring him?

So, prob at least three. Possibly up to 6 or 7.

I also have a couple of ukes, a green, a blue, who plan to come down for giggles.

Keith

So we could have 2 going for green, plus 3 ukes already. Possibly enough on the mat then already.

Thanks for the information Paul. It sounds like there will be plenty of people coming. I'm happy for Mike to come along, or members of Thatcham, but there's little need for others to attend, unless you're offering to give those grading a lift. I'm happy for Darryl to attend.

Regarding the 'unsures':

Students have to decide if they're prepared to come to a grading. If an instructor hasn't seen them for a few weeks or they're not sure if they can make it, for me it's pretty simple. They have to decide if they're going to make it or not. If they are, they should put as much time and spirit into their preparation as they can. Even at this level, the training and grading ethos should be upheld because it lays a precedence necessary to succeed in future gradings - to paraphrase the syllabus:

White Belt:

Understand and agree with the expectations of Aiuchi around safety:1) being properly mentally and physically prepared before training...

Please remember this is also a public forum, accessible by ALL, and thus so are the comments made about your students' attendance or your aspirations for them.

Maria (blue) and Rob (green) will be along as taxi drivers /ukes. Darryl will have someone along in loco parentis, either his stepfather who will be bringing him down or his neighbour, who is also one of my green belts. As it is a long drive and then a fairly boring few hours sat around waiting I've offered the latter. I don't know what it'll be yet, though.